


Ich liebe dich

by miraculouskatsukii



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Best Friends, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-22
Updated: 2016-04-22
Packaged: 2018-06-03 20:42:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6625480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miraculouskatsukii/pseuds/miraculouskatsukii
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>three times annabeth said ‘i love you’ and one time percy did. or, annabeth really loves languages and her best friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ich liebe dich

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I don't actually speak German!! (I'm romanian, horrible ikr) So please please please notify me if I made any mistakes, thanks! Also: 
> 
> WARNINGS: There are (a couple) mentions of alcohol, also some slight vulgar language (and thoughts ~ish~), but nothing explicit.

three times annabeth said ‘i love you’ and one time percy did. or, annabeth really loves languages and her best friend.   
i.

There was a slight breeze in the air, the morning that it all started. The leaves were finally starting to turn yellow, red and brown, but the sky still remained a wonderfully rich shade of blue, as if summer were still clinging to its last remaining days before the arrival of cloudy skies and rainy days. Most students were mourning the end of their summer break, saddened by the untimely arrival of school and studying, but some, like Annabeth Chase, were actually excited.   
“And this new German class this year?! I’m so ready for it, like sign me the hell up. I did sign up actually. Ugh, did I mention how awesome this will be?” she sighed.  
“In the past hour? You’ve mentioned how ‘awesome’, ‘amazing’, ‘absolutely delightful’, ‘extremely exciting’ and ‘totally new’ this German class will be,” Percy teased.   
“You’re the worst,” she shoved him away playfully. “One day I will force you to come along with me. It’ll be awesome. My friends and I will be able to check you out in German, and you won’t even realize.”  
“Ha, ha,” he deadpanned.   
“Trust me though, learning a new language is super cool. It’s refreshing, like taking a deep breath of fresh air. Forget oxford commas and double negatives; join me in my world of difficult pronunciations and even more difficult syntax. You take it all from the beginning, and, I don’t know… it’s nice to have a fresh start on something,” she shrugged.   
Percy smiled at his best friend of nearly seven years, admiring the way the sunlight made her tan skin glow and her eyes sparkle. He had always found people more beautiful when they were talking about something they were truly passionate about, even more so when it was Annabeth, because Annabeth was simply constantly beautiful.   
Their first year of college had really taken its toll on Annabeth though, dark circles under eyes and a coffee cup in her hand being a permanent feature in her outfit last year.   
He totally understood what she was trying to tell him, what with a ‘fresh start’ and all. She had been a complete wreck their freshman year, and if straight-A student Annabeth Chase couldn’t cope with the coursework in college, then that, more than anything, told him all he needed to know about the American education system. She had been at the top of all their classes, had kept up her 4.0 GPA all the way through high school, and had managed to excel in at least three extracurricular activities every year. And yet college had hit them both like a bullet train, Annabeth most of all.   
This year he knew she wanted to start over and correct all the mistakes she had made last year, and this was her first one: not enough ‘Annabeth’ classes.   
Sure, architecture was fun if you were someone like Annabeth, he reasoned, but no one could go that long without a simple break. So this had been his master plan: German classes.   
From a young age, Annabeth had expressed her interest in languages. She had quickly learned French and Spanish, both which were compulsory school subjects, and had rapidly moved on to learning more that wasn’t on the school curriculum off the Internet.   
So when Percy found about the language courses that their university offered, he immediately informed Annabeth, and she immediately signed up.   
“So here we are,” she breathed, as they stopped in front of the building where her German class was taking place. “I’m doing this.”  
“You can do it. Just do it,” Percy smiled, remembering the famous meme. “Yesterday you said tomorrow…”  
“Shut up. I will punch you,” Annabeth laughed.   
“Don’t let your dreams be dreams,” Percy muttered under his breath, then dodged Annabeth’s fist a second later.   
“For real, now,” he quietened down. “I believe in you. Your professor will be awesome. You’ll make new friends. It’ll be cool. Just don’t gossip about me in German with them, okay?”  
“Okay,” she smiled, and for the millionth time, Percy wondered how he had ended up with such an amazing person as his best friend.   
“Ich liebe dich,” Annabeth reached up to kiss Percy’s cheek.   
“What does that mean?” Percy asked slowly.

She just smiled sadly before turning to enter the building. 

ii.

“Never again.”  
“Never again what?”  
“Never again tell me to sign up for a language class. I have a whole other list of adjektive to memorize, and I just finished with my last one like, an hour ago,” Annabeth flopped down on Percy’s bed, her hand thrown over her face in an overly dramatic pose.   
“At least you get a – what was it you had called German class? – ‘a refreshing deep breath of fresh air’,” Percy smiled, trying his best not to stare at the strip of tan skin that had been revealed between her t-shirt and yoga pants.   
“Don’t tease. It’s not nice,” she grumbled.   
“You were the one who wanted to just do it,” he grinned.   
“I would flip you off but I’m too tired and full of verb tenses,” she sighed.   
Percy softened, seeing how down Annabeth actually was. “No one said that learning a new language would be easy you know. And on top of all your architecture work too…”  
He paused for a moment considering the situation at hand.  
“Movie night,” he decided.   
“What?”  
“Movie night. We haven’t had one in forever! I just miss watching Inception and eating popcorn covered in enough butter to cause a heart attack, y’know?”  
She giggled. “Definitely. You go down to the shop and I choose the movie?”  
“Done.”  
He was nearly out the door when –   
“Wait!” Annabeth called from the other room before he had gotten a chance to put his coat on.   
“Ich liebe dich,” she kissed his cheek.  
“What does it mean though?” he asked smiling, as she pushed him out the door. 

iii.

“Tonight’s going to be fun,” Annabeth smiled.  
“Oh, most definitely. We’re just a bunch of college kids, out drinking, totally not underage. Got the fake IDs?”  
“Leo can get us anything, and you know it. I’ve got them, alright.”  
Tonight was their night. They were going to go be some normal college kids, go out, chug beer, down shots like nobody’s business, and make complete fools of themselves. Oh, and let’s not forget the horrible hangover they’ll be forced to put up with tomorrow morning. All in the fun of being twenty.   
“So, aliens: would you bang one or not?” Percy asked her as they walked down the road to the local bar.  
“What an interesting conversation topic,” she teased. “No really, sometimes I think Leo’s had too big of an influence on you. Honestly, aliens?”  
“But would you bang one or not?” Percy persisted, already knowing the answer, but wanting her to admit it anyways.   
She eyed him carefully, before turning her face forward so as to not see his smug expression when she answered. “10/10 would bang an alien, to be honest.”  
“Knew it!” he punched the air. “Space nerd.”  
“Yeah, well, you’re one to talk mister ‘i-would-marry-a-dolphin-they’re-that-cute’.”  
“Hey, you can’t tease the marine biology major about dolphins, it’s not like I tell people about the way you actually drool over arches and pillar designs.”   
Annabeth propped her hand on her hip, while with her other hand she waved her finger in Percy’s face. “Tsk, tsk. That would be in violation of two best friend codes: you don’t just go around telling people about my weird architectural obsession, and you can’t kink-shame me.”   
“Lucky you have justice on your side,” Percy muttered.   
“You know what they say,” she said as they entered the loud bar. “Justice is blonde. Now let’s get hammered.”   
“Now that’s something I never thought you would say,” he smirked. “Let’s get hammered.”

~

Seven beers, nine shots, and two cognacs later, Percy and Annabeth were most definitely hammered.   
“I have never been this drunk in like – like forever,” Annabeth stumbled down the steps in front of the bar and out into the road.  
“Ugh, you’re telling me,” Percy whined.   
“Perce. I’m drunk and stupidly in love. I need to tell you something. You won’t remember. Promise,” Annabeth said, pulling Percy closer.   
“Ich liebe dich,” Annabeth murmured into his ear, before closing the gap between their mouths in a short sweet kiss.   
“Beth?” was the last thing Annabeth remembered before she fell asleep, right into Percy’s arms. 

+i.

“So that was one hell of a night,” Percy handed Annabeth a bottle of water as she stumbled out of her bedroom.   
“Ugh, don’t remind me. Everything hurts. Too bright. Too much noise. Just – just stop talking for a bit,” she groaned, pressing her head to the cold tile that lined their kitchen table.   
“Okay, I’m up, I’m up,” she sighed, pushing her head back up. Noticing the sweet way Percy was staring at her, she pushed herself up a little more, remembering the day-old makeup she hadn’t washed off and the rats’ nest that was her hair. “Percy?”  
“Probably not the best time for this,” he smiled. “But I just figured something out yesterday.”  
He slid a card over to Annabeth. On the front was a beautifully drawn, single rose. Its’ stem curved around the edge of the paper, inviting Annabeth to turn the page. On the inside there were three words:

ich liebe dich

“Ich liebe dich auch,” Percy smiled at her, reveling in the fact the he had finally managed to render Annabeth Chase speechless.   
“This - Percy, I- oh my god,” Annabeth sighed, tracing the rose with her fingers. “Really?”  
“Yes, really, is that even a question, Annabeth?” Percy asked her incredulously. He slid off his chair and walked around the table so he was next to Annabeth, before kneeling down, so that they were face-to-face.   
“Annabeth Chase,” he began. “I feel like I’m proposing but honestly I’m not. Will you be my girlfriend even though I only know three words in German?”   
“Is that even a question, Percy?” she mimicked him, laughing. “Obviously. Now help me suffer through this hangover. Come cuddle with me.”

~

(it wasn’t really okay that he knew only three words in German, but she would force him to learn more later.)  
(and he would complain about it but thoroughly enjoy the German study sessions, deciding to simply watch the way the light reflected off her hair instead of actually listening.)

fin.

**Author's Note:**

> My first shot at something a bit more professional!! I really love the 'three times... one time' writing meme so I hope y'all like it too ;) 
> 
> Stay cute,  
> itsthewhitepegasus
> 
> PS follow me on tumblr I'm @itsthewhitepegasus


End file.
